AUSTRALIA
ABC Newcastle
November 14, 2017
By Liz Farquhar and Kerrin Thomas
The former Anglican Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence has been arrested and charged with alleged sexual assaults on a 15-year-old boy.
The alleged offences occurred in the NSW Hunter region in 1991.
In 2016, police in Newcastle received a referral from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and Strike Force Arinya was formed to investigate.
Mr Lawrence was one of a number of current and former Anglican Church officials to give evidence at the royal commission hearing into the Anglican Church in Newcastle last year.
This morning, officers from the strike force arrested the 75-year-old former dean at his home in the Newcastle suburb of Kotara.
Mr Lawrence was taken to Waratah Police Station and charged with four counts of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault.
He has been granted conditional bail to face Newcastle Local Court next month.
He was defrocked in 2012.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.